Constitutional Law I

Field Preemption

Field Preemption occurs when federal law leaves no doubt that Congress intended to occupy an entire field.

This can be detected in several ways:

1. The federal regulation being so pervasive to imply that Congress intended to displace state regulatory authority
2. The federal law touches a field in which the federal interest is so dominant that the federal system is assumed to preclude enforcement of state laws on the subject
3. The object sought to be obtained by the federal law and the character of obligations imposed by it reveal a congressional intent to fully occupy the field